Aron Johannsson’s Impending Transfer Slows a Talent Leak

Aron Johannsson during a Gold Cup game with the United States last month. He is on the verge of a transfer to Werder Bremen of Germany’s Bundesliga.CreditNick Wass/Associated Press

By Brian Sciaretta

Aug. 4, 2015

Aron Johannsson, a striker for the United States men’s national soccer team, is on the verge of a transfer to Werder Bremen of Germany’s Bundesliga, his Dutch club announced Tuesday. The move will make Johannsson, 24, one of the most high-profile American players in Europe, and it stops a migration of top American pros out of the top European leagues, at least temporarily.

Johannsson has played with the Dutch club AZ Alkmaar since 2013, scoring 38 goals in 84 games across all competitions. He will depart after having led the club to three important wins to end last season and propelling AZ into a surprising third-place finish that earned the team a place in the Europa League this season.

Image

Johannsson during the Gold Cup. His move will make him the only American forward likely to see regular minutes in one of Europe’s top leagues.CreditPatrick Smith/Getty Images

On Tuesday, AZ announced that it had agreed to sell Johannsson’s rights to Werder Bremen. Johannsson still needed to agree to a contract and pass a physical; those could be completed as soon as Wednesday.

“Once they came and were interested, it was a pretty easy choice, because obviously I want to play for a better team in a better league, and the Bundesliga is one of the best leagues in the world,” Johannsson said in a farewell interview posted online by AZ. “It’s a step in the right direction for me, and hopefully it will go well.”

The move now makes Johannsson the only American forward likely to see regular minutes in one of Europe’s top leagues. Clint Dempsey was the last American to establish himself in an elite league; his best season was in 2011-12 with Fulham, when he scored 17 goals in the Premier League and 23 over all.

Lately, however, American forwards have struggled merely to earn regular playing time. Jozy Altidore struggled mightily at Sunderland before returning to Major League Soccer in January, and Julian Green’s loan to Hamburg from Bayern Munich resulted in his playing only 111 minutes last season.

The United States national team coach, Jurgen Klinsmann, has frequently said that he hopes his players push themselves to play in the best leagues — comments that have, at times, drawn the ire of M.L.S. officials. Despite those wishes, many prominent Americans have left European clubs to sign multimillion-dollar deals with M.L.S. Dempsey returned in 2013, and he was soon followed by Michael Bradley, Jermaine Jones, Altidore, Mix Diskerud and Sacha Kljestan.

Johannsson’s move, especially if he earns regular playing time and continues to score goals, could be good news for his national team career. In 2013, Johannsson, who was born in Alabama but raised in Iceland, changed his international allegiance to the United States after years of representing Iceland at the youth level. Since then, he has consistently been part of the national team, including the World Cup squad in 2014, when injuries limited him to one appearance.

The move to the Bundesliga could signify a shift, and help Johannsson press Dempsey, 32, and Altidore, 25, on Klinsmann’s depth chart heading into qualifying for the 2018 World Cup.

Werder Bremen should be able to use Johannsson right away; it transferred the Argentine forward Franco Di Santo, its top scorer last season, with 13 goals, to Schalke on July 25.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page B12 of the New York edition with the headline: American’s Move Slows a Talent Leak in Europe. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe